Chapter 175

Chapter 175

Chen Yue stood before his parents and sister, began recounting events from their past life—starting from Jiang Nian’s mother’s death before the apocalypse, when his father invited him to live with them.

At first, even Jiang Nian thought his Purification ability was useless—until Chen Yue was scratched by a zombie.

After Xia Weiwei discovered that Jiang Nian’s superpower could neutralize the zombie virus, she informed her father.

From then on, whether it was concealing Jiang Nian’s superpower or Chen Yue’s infection, from pleading for Jiang Nian’s help to gradually controlling and imprisoning him, Xia Weiwei was the driving force behind it all.

Chen Shanmin had his doubts, but for Chen Yue’s sake—along with the perks from S Base that kept them safe during the apocalypse, Xia Weiwei’s sweet talk, and the influence of his wife and daughter—he turned a blind eye.

They took advantage of Jiang Nian’s kindness and guilt-tripped him.

Later, when Jiang Nian fought back and things turned ugly, he went from Chen Yue’s savior to a lab rat in the basement.

It wasn’t until Professor Xia announced the success of the Superpower Core transplantation experiment:

Superpowered people could swap out their abilities for new ones by taking anti-rejection injections, while regular folks could be evaluated and turned into artificial superpowered subjects.

That was when Jiang Nian became expendable. By the time his Purification Core was extracted, it had already evolved to its final form.

So when it was implanted in Chen Yue, it healed him almost instantly.

However, this superpower capable of purging the zombie virus was something Professor Xia wanted it for himself, no question.

So, after the Chen family arrived at S Base, Professor Xia locked them up in lab pods, forcibly extracted the Purification Core from Chen Yue, and transplanted it into Xia Weiwei.

As mentioned before, Xia Weiwei became the only successful lab-made dual-ability super.

"..."

After finishing the first half of the story, Chen Yue exhaled and said,

"Truth is, I was just another one of Xia Weiwei’s lab rats..."

In his previous life, he’d met a bad end too. Now, having regained his memories and facing this situation again, he wasn’t having it!

"H-how could this be..."

After listening, Chen Shanmin looked at Jiang Nian, his face unreadable, his eyes heavy with guilt. But when he looked back at the disheveled Chen Yue, his heart ached with hesitation:

The past was the past. Since it was all S Base and Xia Weiwei’s scheme, he felt there was no need for the family to turn against each other. If Jiang Nian could just move on, they could live peacefully in this life.

"Wuu..."

Chen Lin choked back a sob:

"How could Sister Weiwei be like that... I... I always admired her. She must have manipulated or threatened us too..."

If sacrificing Jiang Nian could save her brother, it wasn’t surprising that their family, in their anxiety and desperation, had believed Xia Weiwei’s "lies"...

But that was all in the past. In this life, they had coexisted peacefully with Jiang Nian. Holding some past-life grudge against them was just messed up!

With just one glance at her, Jiang Nian knew exactly what she was thinking. He sneered:

"Birds of a feather—none of you have the right to judge the other. In my eyes, you’re even more disgusting than her!"

Thanks to her tight bond with Xia Weiwei, she’d acted all high and mighty like some two-bit villain.

"......"

Chen Lin seethed with rage but didn't dare talk back.

Chen Xiuling inhaled sharply and uttered through gritted teeth:

"The ringleaders were Xia Weiwei and the S Base. All we wanted was to save Xiao Yue—it was the Purification Superpower that was targeted. We were victims too... In this life, we haven’t done anything, and even if we deceived you, you came to no harm..."

"Just say I’m the one who ruined you!"

Jiang Nian couldn't be bothered to get angry. Dying people's ramblings were nonsense—no need to take them seriously.

"Cough..."

After recounting everything that happened at the Z Base, Chen Yue caught his breath before continuing:

"We actually didn’t stay at the S Base for long before Cheng Jing captured and imprisoned us in Qingyun City. In fact, your death marked the beginning of our nightmare..."

Cheng Jing’s search for Jiang Nian was a classic case of "hiding in plain sight."

After doomsday, he joined the S Base’s rescue team. Though he kept asking around about Jiang Nian’s whereabouts, information was scarce during the initial chaos and the extreme cold period, making it difficult to track anyone down.

Shortly after the extreme cold ended, the special nature of Jiang Nian’s Superpower was discovered.

Under the orchestration of Xia Weiwei, her father, and S Base higher-ups in the know—with the Chen family providing cover—Jiang Nian’s whereabouts were completely concealed for a long time.

It wasn’t until zombie hordes began appearing everywhere, overrunning small bases and private shelters, that the situation changed.

The Z Base, one of the S Base’s "resource supply stations," was among the fallen. The S Base issued an announcement to rescue and evacuate survivors from the Z Base.

Only then did Liang Yunhao and Yang Kai, who were part of the base’s inner circle, help Cheng Jing uncover that Jiang Nian was in the Z Base with his "family."

As their digging deepened, the truth emerged—Jiang Nian had been imprisoned by Xia Weiwei and her family as a lab rat.

Unwilling to implicate his friends, Cheng Jing hired other Superpowered individuals for top dollar to form a temporary team and made a beeline there. But despite hurrying, he arrived too late.

At the same time, while he was searching for Jiang Nian, his family, Liang Yunhao, and Yang Kai were detained and placed under house arrest by the base.

Xia Weiwei and the S Base offered vast supplies and credits in exchange for him letting it go.

Unfortunately, they underestimated Jiang Nian’s importance to Cheng Jing.

Instead of compromising, Cheng Jing contacted Department Head Wang of the Southern City Base, informing him that Yang Kai had been imprisoned by the S Base and exposing the inhumane human experiments conducted there—all to save his friends and family.

The Southern City Base was run by the military. Though smaller than the S Base, it was one of the most authoritative official bases.

After the Southern City Base stepped in to negotiate with the S Base, Cheng Jing later took Jiang Nian back to Qingyun City.

No one knew what happened to him there. But when he returned to the S Base, he was accompanied by a fearsomely powerful Zombie King.

In the end, using his inside knowledge of the S Base’s inner workings, the Zombie King’s strength, and the help of some friends, Cheng Jing swiftly captured everyone who had oppressed and tortured Jiang Nian:

The Chen family, Xia Weiwei, her personal physician, and their accomplices.

After successfully bringing them all back to Qingyun City, he locked them in the basement and subjected them to unending torture:

Forcing them to kneel in daily penance before Jiang Nian, who had turned into a zombie, while losing a part of their bodies each day.

To prevent escape, amputations started with their limbs. Afterward, they were given drugs to stop bleeding and prolong their suffering.

He broke them mentally, denied them suicide, and when someone was at death's door, he threw them—still alive—to the zombies to be devoured.

When conflict erupted between the Southern City Base and the S Base, Cheng Jing seized the opportunity. With the Zombie King and Jiang Nian, he raided the S Base, using a group of deranged experimenters and mutilated test subjects as living shields before detonating the place.

Afterward, the S Base’s leadership scattered, and the military took over.

According to the Zombie King, who later returned to Qingyun City to help Cheng Jing tie up loose ends and "dismantle" them, before the explosion, Cheng Jing had Jiang Nian bite him, then embraced him as they perished.